Should Mets Wait for Greinke Before Signing Dickey?

As much as I prefer to see the Mets lock up R.A. Dickey for the foreseeable future as soon as possible, from a cold-hearted business perspective, it may behoove the Mets to wait until Zack Greinke signs before extending their knuckleballer. Why? Because there are several teams in play for Greinke’s services — most notably, the Angels, Dodgers, and Rangers. There are also rumors that the Blue Jays, Nationals, Orioles, Brewers, or Royals could be in the mix. The two LA teams and the Rangers, though, seem to be the frontrunners, and most desperate to sign the righthander. Only one of those three teams can add Greinke, leaving the other two empty-handed. And that’s where the Mets come in with R.A. Dickey — because whomever doesn’t get Greinke, will still be in the market for a front-end starting pitcher. The next-best starter on the free-agent market is Anibal Sanchez, who is pretty good, but not on the level of Greinke or Dickey.

Again, my preference is to see R.A. in a Mets uniform in 2013, but the unemotional business side of me thinks it might be best to wait and see what happens with Zack Greinke, and then get a true read of what Dickey’s value might be on the trade market.

What do you think? Is it worth the wait? Are there youngsters on any of those teams that you’d like to see come the Mets’ way in a deal for Dickey? Answer in the comments.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.

It would be difficult not to listen to an offer that included Toronto’s Travis d’Arnaud.

IzzyNovember 23, 2012 at 9:08 am

I think your headline needs to be changed to Should the Mets Wait for Greinke before TRADING Dickey? The answer is it doesn’t matter. There are enough teams that want good pitching, teams that actually want to be good teams that he can bring in talent no matter when Greinke signs. 2. Is Sandy Alderson so arrogant that he will refuse to allow a trade partner to negotiate with Dickey before a deal is finalized? 3. It doesn’t matter because the average fan will be so turned off by the Mets trading Dickey that the park will be emptier next year than this last because the average guy doesn’t care bleep about some guy that a suit tells him will be good in three years. Alderson sat on his duff for two years, He’s not going to turn a fan base on now by rebuilding. No matter which way he goes he has shown that he is a total failure and past his time.

Craig RothNovember 23, 2012 at 9:12 am

I think you make a good point. If the mets are going to
trade Dickey because they can’t sign him then they need
to get the best package they can for him and should offer a
team a window to sign him to an extention because no
team is going to give you a great package for him if he’s
only a one year rental! I would also trade david Wright too
because if he has the same type of first half in 2013 that
he had in the second half of 2012 they won’t get anything for him! Trade both of them ASAP while they still have a
lot of value! I would give Flores a shot at third and if he
doesn’t work out move Murphy to third and put Turner
at second! As far as upseting the fan base with these
trades if the mets can’t sign one or both of them they
will lose them anyway and get only a draft pick in return
so this would be the better way to go!
Happy Holidays

Are we to believe the Wilpons can’t afford Dickey and Wright? They are the only ones that will cost anything after this year. If they can’t pay them, why does MLB allow the Wilpons to even own the team? They can get over 1 billion $ for this team right now. Dickey should be kept to be the ace for the team for the next 3-4 years. Yes, he is that good and can lead the yoing crop of pitchers behind him. A trade will not yield anywhere close to equal value-Dickey has shown he can win for the Mets-how many pitchers have really done that for the Mets in recent history? Wright is the face of the franchise-simply put. If the Wilpons cannot pay these last 2 remaining heroes for suffering Mets fans then they should be forced to sell the team because they will not get equal value in trades AND there will not be progress for a minimum of 6 years-it will take that long to “start over.”

Jujo, I believe you echo the concerns and frustrations of most Mets fans.

I agree it is a travesty that a Major League team based in New York City operates like an independent minor league team in a dry town with one traffic light and surrounded by corn fields. Maybe MLB should move the Mets out of Flushing and fold the organization into that of the KC Royals.

Wheeler should be put into the 2013 starting rotation- his stuff is so wicked-that they can afford to let him develop his final tweaks pitching in the majors.

AndyNovember 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm

If they sign Dickey to a decent contract then they’ll still be able to trade him after Grienke signs. In fact, they should be in even better a position, since Grienke’s negotiating leverage goes up once a team has paid a boatload of prospects to get one year of his services.

DaveSchneckNovember 24, 2012 at 11:14 pm

Joe,
I agree that it can’t hurt RA’s trade value to wait for Greinke to get off the market. However, the Mets can’t sit around and do nothing all winter. Yes, RA and DW are prioirities, but it’s now time to you-know-what or get off the pot for the multi-million dollar GM. They have holes to fill now, not in 2014, if they expect anyone to actually pay to see the team in 2013.

DanNovember 25, 2012 at 5:48 am

Therein lies the problem. Didn’t they have to buy some of the 20M shares they sold to come up with 200M to pay off MLB, some other debt, and meet payroll? And aren’t the annual losses somewhere around 30M? Our best hope is that they really stink next year, Selig goes, and the Katpons are forced to sell.

micNovember 25, 2012 at 5:48 am

RA should not even be the focus in this arguement. RA is signed for 2013. He is NOT a FA so we need to stop traeting him as one. FACT, when he is a FA this should be moot anyway.
Instead the Mets need to consider trading trading from their depth to include Niese. Consider that we have RA, Johan, Niese, Gee, Pelfrey, Harvey, Wheeler, familia, Jenry & Hefner vying for consideration in 2013. Carson and Elvin also will get looks in the pen.

And Craig: I’m with you on Wright. There are MANY internal options including Zach Lutz, Turner and Flores for 3rd.

DanNovember 25, 2012 at 5:57 am

Question- If the Mets pick up Wrights option, can they trade him after he accepts, or does the contract clause that voids the option if traded apply?